Synopsis
In this dazzling Hollywood memoir, Jeff Margolis takes us on the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour of television’s most memorable variety series and specials spanning the past fifty years—from the most iconic variety shows of the 1970s to the Oscars.
Today, as one of the most prolific directors/producers of event television, Margolis is not only a technical ringmaster but also a confidante and sage to the stars who headline the shows.
Students of television will savor the “how-to” of event television while fans will love the intimate stories of beloved stars like Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Cher, Sammy Davis Jr., Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, and Oprah Winfrey. While not a sordid tell-all, We’re Live in 5 is a tell-it-as-it-is with all the glamour you expect, along with a deeply revealing human portrait of working with larger-than-life personalities at television’s most dizzying and demanding heights.
“Nobody has better stories or more to say.” —Whoopi Goldberg, EGOT, 4x Oscar Host
About the Author
Emmy Award winner Jeff Margolis is one of the most successful live TV event and variety special directors of all-time. As a kid, he was introduced to showbusiness by his uncle, gameshow legend Monty Hall. What followed is a career spanning five decades including directing mammoth hits of the 1970s like The Sonny & Cher Show, and Tony Orlando and Dawn and continuing with mega specials like Michael Jackson: One Night Only, Sinatra 75: The Best Is Yet to Come, Whitney Houston: Love Will Save the Day, Kenny Rogers Live in Concert, Quincy Jones… The First 50 Years, and Happy Birthday Elizabeth [Taylor]: A Celebration of Life. Jeff also achieved live television’s biggest and most coveted directorial prize–directing the Academy Awards, which he’s directed eight times along with multiple director and producing duties at the Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, American Music Awards, and Miss America Pageant.
Pushcart Prize and Emmy Award nominee Loren Stephens is a novelist, biographer, and widely published essayist. Her critically acclaimed novel “All Sorrows Can Be Borne,” is inspired by her husband’s epic story of being raised in Montana after being adopted from his native Japan. As founder and president of Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs, Stephens has co-written dozens of books with notables from fashion and entertainment world. Collaborations include “Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge,” by Cliff Simon and “Fighting for the Truth” by actor and singer Aki Aleong. As an essayist, her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, and the Montreal Review. She lives in Los Angeles. Prior to her career in writing, Loren was a documentary filmmaker. Notably, she was Emmy nominated for her PBS film “Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist narrated by Burt Lancaster. Additional credits include “Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman” which won a Golden Apple Award from the National Education Association (NEA); and “Los Pastores: The Shepherd’s Play” for PBS.
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